The current land speed record of 763 miles per hour is about to be smashed.

A British team is hoping to build a car that can go 1,000 miles per hour. The Bloodhound supersonic car will not be moving entirely on its own, however. It will be paired with a fighter jet engine from a Eurofighter Typhoon.

The team performed a successful test of the rocket in a military hangar in the English town of Newquay.

"That's exactly what I was hoping to see," said Andy Green, the the Royal Air Force fighter pilot who will be behind the wheel during the attempt to break the land speed record. "That was a hugely successful, very, very important experiment for us."

The test was performed using a tank which contained peroxide-based rocket fuel, as well as a Cosworth Formula One engine, which pumped fuel into the combustion chamber. It produced 14,200 pounds of thrust, with the engine running at 16,000 revolutions per minute.

Contributing Editor
Channtal Fleischfresser has worked for The Economist, WNET/Channel 13, Al Jazeera English, Wall Street Journal and Associated Press. She holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She is based in New York.
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